{"id":16311,"date":"2021-03-19T10:27:43","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T15:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/?p=16311"},"modified":"2025-10-17T14:39:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T19:39:20","slug":"huey-lewis-and-the-news-on-hearing-power-of-love-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/huey-lewis-and-the-news-on-hearing-power-of-love-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Huey Lewis and the News on His Hearing, the Power of Love, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"text-transform: none !important; font-variant: normal;\">\n  Thin Lizzy Mentors, Grateful Dead Roots, M\u00e9ni\u00e8re\u2019s Battles, and Huey Lewis\u2019s Heart of Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll\n<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Libsyn Player\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/18412307\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/87A93A\/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"90\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>With his backing band, the News, Huey has released 10 albums over the years, including <em>Weather<\/em>, which came out in 2020, and may unfortunately be the last. Huey now suffers from a hearing disorder called M\u00e9ni\u00e8re\u2019s disease, which affects his inner ear and can trigger hearing loss and dizzy spells. He says he now has difficulty just hearing notes.<\/p>\n<p>But before the 10 albums, before the fashion lessons from Thin Lizzy\u2019s leader, before \u201cwhere you goin\u2019 with that harmonica in your hand?\u201d there was his dad, who hosted jam sessions in the local park, and insisted Huey and his brother learn time.<\/p>\n<p><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, my old man was a doctor by profession, but his passion was music. He was a drummer and a piano player. We had a set of drums set up in the living room, and he loved big band jazz. And he would just blast it. I mean, loud. And then he\u2019d put us on the drums, me and my brother, and he goes, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to learn time.\u201d So it started right there. And then when my parents split up, my dad got me guitar lessons; Visitation rights and guitar lessons was his day. And I took guitar lessons from Rolf Cahn, who was a great Carter Family-style picker in Berkeley. And he would convince me to go away to prep school. And then one thing led to another. Then at prep school, I picked up the harmonica, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Pat Healy: Can you still play that kind of fingerstyle picking?<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Barely. First position stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Well, when you write, what do you use as your main rhythm?<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Usually, I co-write with the boys, and they write it. They bring the whole progression in or something else, and then we\u2019ll just mess around with it. But most of the musical ideas start with Chris and Johnny. Although several songs have simpler stuff we\u2019ve done. But it\u2019s really a collaborative process with us. We are, as a band, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> songwriter. None of us is really an accomplished songwriter all on his own. And our best songs literally are contributed in all ways by all of us. We\u2019re a real band in that sense.<\/span><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Speaking of Chris, I don\u2019t know which Chris you\u2019re talking about, but Chris Hayes &#8230;<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Bonnie\u2019s brother!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah, that\u2019s right! She says hello, by the way.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Oh, I love <a href=\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/podcast-episode-031-songwriter-bonnie-hayes-on-sexism-drugs-and-rock-n-roll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bonnie Hayes. She\u2019s so terrific<\/a>. First of all, she\u2019s a great musician. But she\u2019s such a sweet person, and so generous, and talented. <a href=\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/faculty\/bonnie-hayes?pid=8023&amp;utm_source=takenote&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bol-gen-takenote-article-promotion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">And she loves it [at Berklee] too<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yup. She\u2019s actually heading up the <a href=\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/music-degrees\/graduate\/songwriting\/?campaign_id=7010Z000001ZkQgQAK&amp;pid=&amp;utm_source=takenote&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bol-gen-takenote-link-from-article\" data-wplink-edit=\"true\">songwriters masters program<\/a> we\u2019re launching.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Good. That\u2019s great. There\u2019s no better. There\u2019s no better. She\u2019s written a few killers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah. Okay, so to go back to what you were saying before, music was always in the house, and your dad would have these jam sessions. And I believe I heard you once say, people like Dizzy Gillespie would show up.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>[Laughter]. That\u2019s a different story. Dizzy Gillespie showed up with my mother one night, or one morning, for breakfast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Okay. That <\/b><b><i>is<\/i><\/b><b> a different story. This show just took a different turn &#8230;<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>My old man was a jazzer. And so, my dad would run little jam sessions in a local park. My mom would make spaghetti, and they\u2019d drink red wine &#8230; I mean, they just would jam. The kids would just run around and screw around when we were young kids. So that was kind of my, I looked at it, that looks like fun. The first thing that really hit me, though, was my old man took me to the Monterey Jazz Fest. And Joe Williams and the Count Basie Band did \u201cAlright, Okay, You Win,\u201d right? And I remember the Basie Band came out and played a song. They were just amazing. And we were in the fourth row. And shoot, I must\u2019ve been 11, I guess, or something, 11 or 12. And it was just amazing to look at that big band.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then Joe Williams came out, and he was <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">elegant<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And his voice was so &#8230; it was like butter, man. It was so good. And he sang, and I said to myself, \u201cMan, I would love to do that. That\u2019s what I would love to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Count Basie &amp; Joe Williams - Well Alright ,Okay,You Win\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aYVEdPy8gQY?start=29&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>So that was the crystallizing moment there, the Monterey Jazz Fest?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>First one. I didn\u2019t decide I was <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">going to<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> do it. I just knew, that was the first glimpse of, \u201cwow, that is cool!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>And did you do pickup bands before Clover?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah, let\u2019s see. Now I go to school, right I\u2019m in school, and my dad gets me guitar lessons and then convinced me to go to prep school. So now I go to prep school in New Jersey. And my mom had a boarder, who was a guy called Billy Roberts, who wrote \u201cHey Joe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And my parents were split up. And he played harmonica, so one of these little braces. And he had a bunch of harmonicas. And he gave me a bunch of harmonicas. So I took them back to prep school and stuff, and I played a little bit in prep school. And I graduated from prep school at 16. I was a year young because I\u2019d skipped second grade. And my old man said, \u201cAlright, you\u2019ve done everything.\u201d He\u2019s the one who wanted me to go to prep school, and \u201cNow you did, and you\u2019re great.\u201d And I\u2019d been accepted to Cornell, and I was going to play baseball. He was like, \u201cThere\u2019s only one more thing I want you to do.\u201d I said, \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d He says, \u201cDon\u2019t go to college. Not yet.\u201d I said, \u201cWhat? Dad \u2026\u201d \u201cNo, no, no. Take a year off and bum around Europe.\u201d I said, \u201cReally?\u201d He says, \u201cYeah.\u201d So he <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">made<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> me do it. I took my harmonicas, hitchhiked across the country. I actually stowed away on an airplane, which is a whole other story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah, that is insane. I think I need to hear a little bit more about that. How on earth did you do that?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>There were no computers. The easy answer is, in those days, there were no computers. Everything was handwritten. Tickets were handwritten. There was no security at all. I think airports were wide open in those days. It was a long time ago. This is 60 years ago!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So were you in a huge case, or did you just sneak in with the baggage guys, or &#8230;?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Well, what you did was, in those days, there were no computers. So when you buy a ticket, it would go in a jacket. And on the cover of the jacket would be written your flight number and your seat number with a special silver pen. And you\u2019d write flight number, seat number. And then you\u2019d go into the waiting area, and there would be a podium there. What you were meant to do was you give the gal at the podium your ticket. She would open up the folder, and tear the deal out. And then all you have is a receipt and the folder, and go onto the airplane.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, this guy taught me that if you could get into the enclave (which you can because it\u2019s wide open) early &#8230; First of all, you get your own folder, and you get your own special pen, which you can find in any one of the empty gates. All those drawers have all that stuff in them. And you take the folder, put LHR, which is London, and take the middle seat over the wing, and put that seat number on there. And now, over in the corner, they won\u2019t pay any attention to you. Pretty soon, it gets filled up. And now all that these people have is this booklet. So now when you go on the airplane, they just look at your seat number, like that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So now, go on the airplane and take a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">different<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> terrible seat, not middle seat, another crappy middle seat. Not your seat, in case you get caught, and you say, \u201cOh no, I\u2019m seat C3. I\u2019m up there\u201d or whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Oh. Wow.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>And as long as the flight isn\u2019t full, boom! So this guy taught me this as I was hitchhiking across the country. So I go to what was then Idlewild Airport, Kennedy Airport, and I hung out at TWA forever. Somebody else pretended that you could actually stow away with the mail, the Post Office would fly, and you\u2019d go with the cargo flight. But I tried that, and that was a nonstarter. So now I go back to TWA and I hang out until the end. And I see the same ticket counter guy the next night. And he looks at me like, \u201cDude, what\u2019re you doing?&#8221; And I said, \u201cWell, I\u2019m trying to get the thing. I don\u2019t have any money. I heard you can do blah, blah, blah.\u201d He says, \u201cWait until I get off at midnight and I\u2019ll show you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And when he got off at midnight, he <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gave<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> me one of the envelopes and handwrote the silver pen thing on it. And said, \u201cGo get \u2018em.\u201d And that\u2019s how I busked my way through Europe. Played with different collections and stuff. Actually had a big concert in Seville when I\u2019d lost my passport, and I\u2019m playing in the streets trying to make 25 bucks so I can get my passport back\u2014because the embassy needed 25 bucks for a passport. Now these kids throw this big concert for \u201cHuey and Los Blues,\u201d with a guitar player called Michael\u2014I can\u2019t remember quite his last name. He was an Australian kid. We\u2019d do this little concert that went down a storm. And I thought, \u201cwhoa,\u201d the bug had kind of bit for me. That\u2019s the second time I felt like, you know what? Not only do I want to do this, I <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then I went back to Cornell for sort of five minutes over a two-year period. But I joined bands. I played with another guy called Ken Lipschitz. We did coffeehouse stuff. Then I joined a band called Slippery Elm, and we did sort of FM radio hits. But meanwhile, San Francisco had exploded. This was 1969, maybe. And so, I called my dad, and I went to class sort of five minutes over a two-year period. But this was a tumultuous time with the takeover,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.cornell.edu\/stories\/2009\/04\/campus-takeover-symbolized-era-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the SDS and the takeover of the Afro-American Student Society<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and all that stuff, so you could take pass\/fail. You didn\u2019t really have to do anything. And so, I made it for two years, and then finally, it caught up with me. I called my own man. I said, \u201cPops, I\u2019m dropping out. I\u2019m going to be a musician.\u201d He went, \u201cWhatever. You know what you\u2019re doing. I made that deal with you. Go ahead.\u201d So I did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then I came back to California, joined a big 10-piece bluegrass band. It was fun. We used to go busk in Fisherman\u2019s Wharf. We\u2019d make a couple hundred bucks, really, some nights. But of course, there were 10 of us. It was really fun. We had a big double bass. Sean [Hopper] played a big double bass. And three of those guys were members of a group called Clover. And then Clover recruited me and Sean, the double bass guy, who also played keyboards, in that band. And that\u2019s when we started.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Wow. You\u2019ve been with Sean forever. I knew he was in Clover, but I didn\u2019t know he even predated that.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah. I can\u2019t even do the math. It\u2019s too complicated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So wait. I want to touch back quickly upon this guy who wrote \u201cHey Joe,\u201d what\u2019s his name again?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Billy Roberts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Okay, so had he written that, and <em>then<\/em> he was boarding at your mom\u2019s house?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah. That was folk. I mean, Jefferson Airplane were a folk band that got electric. So were the Dead, really. I mean, the Dead were kind of a bluegrassy band. And then they got electric. But he was a folk type. Dylan was the rage. That was that thing. And he wrote quite a few songs. And I think he\u2019d written it by then. I don\u2019t know. And then I think there was a publishing problem or something. But he\u2019s credited now with the song. And he wrote it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Billy Roberts - Hey Joe\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sARMCTnDcbE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>Wow. That\u2019s amazing. And you mentioned the Dead. Were they kind of in your social orbit at that point too<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah. The Dead were amazing. I mean, the Dead were amazing. What they did, they kind of took a jazz approach to rock music. I mean, they didn\u2019t know where they were going. Their songs lasted forever. Man, I mean, there were some jams that were really, really fantastic back in the day. We\u2019d go to the Fillmore and see the Dead, Sons of Champlin, and Moby Grape. Wow. Those were some good bands.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah. How many times do you reckon you saw the Dead?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>I\u2019m not a Deadhead. But I\u2019ve seen them at least 12 or 20 times. I sat in with them a couple times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>When was that?<br \/>\nHuey Lewis:\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/gd93-08-21.sbd.nawrocki.15035.sbeok.shnf\/gd1993-08-21d2t02.shn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Oregon, first time. Let\u2019s see. In Eugene<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And they were really sweet. It\u2019s kind of a funny story, actually. They asked me to sit in. I was up there because Ken Kesey had written a play, and he wanted me to play a part in this play. It was just kind of a theater kind of a thing. And I\u2019m a huge Ken Kesey fan. It was coinciding with the Dead\u2019s concert and all that. And he <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/go.gale.com\/ps\/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA76332510&amp;sid=googleScholar&amp;v=2.1&amp;it=r&amp;linkaccess=abs&amp;issn=00267694&amp;p=LitRC&amp;sw=w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wanted me to play Elvis Presley in his play<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is funny. I had a costume and all. It was fun. And I love Kesey. Babbs and the whole Prankster thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I was up there. And now, so the Dead said, \u201cHey, you want to sit in?\u201d I said, \u201cSure.\u201d And I can\u2019t remember if I had a harmonica or they gave me one. But now, they said, \u201cAnd here\u2019s an amp and a microphone, and okay.\u201d So, it was huge. There\u2019s 50,000 people out there. So yeah, no problem. And then they said, \u201cHere.\u201d They put these in my ears, these two. I said, \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d They said, \u201cThese are your monitors. You\u2019re going to hear me over it.\u201d I said, \u201cI am? What\u2019s that about? Okay.\u201d And they had this thing where they had microphones where they could sing in the microphone, and then they could also press a button, to just <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">talk<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the microphone to everybody else without it going outside. So that\u2019s going on sometimes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So they put it in my ears, and I was not used to in-ears anyway. And I cranked the amp up or put the amp where I thought it should go, and I started playing, and I can\u2019t hear myself. I can hear everything else, because they don\u2019t have enough harmonica in here. And the amp\u2019s feeding back, apparently. And now I begin to hear it, and I\u2019m going, \u201cOh, what\u2019s wrong?\u201d And as I go to fix it, I looked around, and Jerry has turned around. We\u2019re playing the Stones thing [hums tune], and now Jerry turns around, and the stage is out here [gestures], and he\u2019s in back with his back turned, working on my amp, getting me a sound. And he spent the whole song getting me a sound. It was so cool. Jerry Garcia was a very sweet guy, and super smart, man. Super smart. And he was really the spokesman for the whole generation. He really could articulate what was going on there. \u201cRampant intellectualism,\u201d he used to say, you know?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah, and you met him earlier too. Was he a family friend, or &#8230;?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>No, no. I didn\u2019t. My mother is a big Deadhead. My mother knew a lot of people. But I went away to prep school. My mom was a hippie, one of the very first hippies. One of the very first Deadheads\u2014pals with all of them. And my dad &#8230; and I was only 12, and he thought it would be a good idea if I got out of there. I saw very little of my mother. And I went to prep school for four years. Neither one of my parents has ever seen the place. But we reconnected, my mother, of course. But in those days, she was living in the counterculture with all that. She was the biggest Deadhead that ever lived, my mom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So when you started playing in Clover, though, I\u2019d imagine she was probably a huge fan of that band, right<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>She was a fan of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mine<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. She was a mother, after all. And she\u2019d wear always stuff, either tie-dyed, she made tie-dyed Huey Lewis stuff and all that. She was just totally supportive, big fan. She was funny.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>That\u2019s funny too, because the music that you did with the News isn\u2019t necessarily something that lends itself to the hippie expression, but &#8230;<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>That\u2019s a really good point! You\u2019re hitting on something very interesting there, because it\u2019s not <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">just<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> music. Music\u2019s involved, but music is one part of this pie. It\u2019s really a connection in kids, and it means different things to different people at different ages. For kids, it\u2019s a way to say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m a Phish person,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m a whoever I am.\u201d It\u2019s an identity. And then for older folks, it\u2019s somebody they want to relate to and who speaks their language. It\u2019s how you relate to them, and who the other audience members are. Because with the Dead, there\u2019s people in those audiences that have been to more shows than Jerry Garcia. I mean, seriously. There\u2019s relationships there that are as long as that now that Jerry\u2019s been gone for whatever it is. It\u2019s that way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember Bill Walton\u2019s wife told me, \u201cOh, do you know the Grateful Dead?\u201d Because we were watching a basketball game. I said, \u201cYeah, I know them a little bit, probably because we\u2019re in the same neighborhood and everything.\u201d She says, \u201cOh, Bill\u2019s just a huge fan.\u201d I said, \u201cYeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of people are fans.\u201d She says, \u201cYeah, I don\u2019t really care for their music, but they\u2019re <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">really<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> great people. And they\u2019re family\u00a0 \u2026\u201d And so, that\u2019s all part of the whole thing. And that\u2019s what pop music is. I mean, it\u2019s communication with an idea. That\u2019s why being too precious with it is kind of crazy, for what we do. I mean, music is music. And there are serious musicians. But this is folk music, what we\u2019re doing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah. Tell me about that in regards to Clover, and then with the News. When you had joined Clover, you joined something that preexisted. But then when you went and started the News, or the American Express, it seems like you had a pretty clear cut vision from the get-go of what you wanted Huey Lewis and the News to be.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah. I mean, it was kind of guitar relief for me. Johnny and I were the first two guys starting it. And I said, \u201cSaxophone and harmonica. Let\u2019s do that. Let\u2019s go that way,\u201d as opposed to [electronic noises], that kind of stuff. But Sean and I ruined Clover. Clover was a really good country rock band. No, honestly. And Sean and I joined that band, and we were on a James Brown kick for some reason. We were listening to KDI over there in Oakland, and James Brown was having hit after hit after hit. And we knew every word. Forget the music, it was just a groove. \u201cFunkin\u2019 for Fun on the One.\u201d Boom. But we knew every nuance of those songs. So we added that element to the thing and really confused the situation. We were too difficult to digest originally, and with us in the lineup, it was just chaos. And so, we tried for a couple years, and I think we ruined that band.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CLOVER - Chicken Funk\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Whx2EMaupMw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>I like that interpretation. But then also, I\u2019ve heard you say that punk rock kind of blew your chances too, that you guys landed in London on pretty much the <\/b><b><i>day<\/i><\/b><b> that punk rock became a huge thing.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Our timing wasn\u2019t great. But I loved the punks. They weren\u2019t conforming to anything the record companies were telling them they should be. They were just saying, \u201cHey, we don\u2019t care. I\u2019m going to sing my own songs my own way. I\u2019m not very good, but I don\u2019t care.\u201d And I thought, wow, what a relief. Instead of trying to make yourself attractive to a record label, just thumb your nose at them, which interestingly, is what the Dead did in the very beginning and all that. And that was the switch that hit for me. Well, I just went to Marin County when Clover broke up and surrounded myself with my favorite players, and we did it for fun. It was all for fun. We had a Monday Night Live thing. And it was just a kick. There was no question about whether we\u2019re going to do this or do a demo or any of that junk. And it just started to take off. It was very organic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>And if I could backtrack a little bit, I think I remember you saying something about Phil Lynott was very influential in helping you kind of find your \u2026 We talk about expressing ourselves through things other than music. I think you said he taught you how to dress.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah. Oh, he dressed me out of his closet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>That\u2019s hilarious.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>\u201cPut this on! You need a scarf. Here, here, try. No, no, put it like this.\u201d And we\u2019d go to Kings Road to shop for clothes and stuff. And he\u2019d buy stuff for me and dress me up as if I was part of his band. But I learned so much from Philip. I mean, I learned everything about how to be a star. How to treat people, your fans, how to treat band members, how to treat crew members, how to treat journalists, radio people. He loved being a star. He just loved it. And it\u2019s one of those things where it can really be obnoxious when people are coming at you all the time. And you have to know that there\u2019s a way around that, which is, talk to them and say, \u201cHey, I cannot sign all your autographs. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Our new record\u2019s coming out, whatever. Here, take a picture. See ya.\u201d But Philip was just brilliant. He was so brilliant. I still miss him. He was my mentor. And nobody could touch him onstage. Best hard rock band I ever saw.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Thin Lizzy - Phil Lynott Huey Lewis Solo in Soho OGWT 11-4-81.mpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fXB9U57J-yI?start=24&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>He took you under his wing basically in the waning days of Clover then, right?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>During Clover. Clover supported Thin Lizzy\u2019s tour. And the very first night, our very first show was in Oxford. And the curtain was down. It\u2019s a small place. Not small, but those theaters, what, 3,000, whatever they are. And so, it\u2019s a funny story, man. This is our first show with Thin Lizzy. We got 25 dates booked and we\u2019re told, \u201cHey, don\u2019t expect a soundcheck until the tour gets going. And furthermore, it\u2019s going to be tough, because they\u2019re all Lizzy fans.\u201d And we\u2019re billed, by the way, as \u201csupport.\u201d So, first show, the curtain is down. They just got off the stage [with their soundcheck], and we\u2019re struggling to get set up, get our amps working and everything. Okay, we think we\u2019re kind of okay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then the curtain\u2019s down. We\u2019ve got nobody to introduce us. And while the curtain\u2019s down, we\u2019re hearing suddenly, we\u2019re taking a little too long, maybe, or whatever. Not very long, but a little bit. [And we hear clap clap clap-clap-clap] \u201cLizzy! Lizzy!\u201d Right? And our road manager, Frank Martinet, comes out, and he\u2019s never introduced the band or anything. He\u2019s just the road manager. But we don\u2019t have anybody to introduce. So Frank goes like this: \u201cHow\u2019s it going?\u201d He goes, \u201cWell, Thin Lizzy&#8217;ll be right out.\u201d They go, \u201cWaaa!\u201d He says, \u201cBut first, here\u2019s Clover!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Oh no.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah. And they go, \u201cBoo!\u201d And we started playing. And it was all we could do to get through, I don\u2019t know how many songs, like a 35-minute set. When we finished, it was just brutal. I walk off and stand in the wings of the stage with Philip. And he\u2019d watched the whole thing. And he goes, \u201cCould I have a word with ya?\u201d I said, \u201cSure.\u201d \u201cCome on. Come into my dressing room. Let me give you a few tips.\u201d And he just started right in on me and said which songs, and this. He was just fantastic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>That\u2019s amazing, though, that he singled you out, because you weren\u2019t even necessarily the head guy.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>He liked the harmonica. He wanted me to play harmonica with him and stuff. But I don\u2019t know why he singled me out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>That\u2019s great. I like that, because it\u2019s like he just saw something in you. There\u2019s some story about the guys from the Clash watching Joe Strummer play for the first time and be like, \u201cHe\u2019s got the wrong suit on, but he\u2019s got the right idea.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah. No, no, right, right. I think there was some of that, actually. Because then I played on his solo records and stuff. We had a wonderful relationship. In fact, I was producing some stuff on him when he passed away. And Chris played on that stuff, and we cut it with the band. And his managers asked me would I do it. I said, \u201cHe\u2019s got to be healthy.\u201d And they said, \u201cHe is.\u201d I said, \u201cOkay, fine.\u201d And he was. And he flew over, and he was great. He was charming. Nobody could be charming like Philip. And we spent a week\u2026<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And he had been lazy for a long time, and not sung up in his range, sung lower in his range. And I\u2019d placed these songs, one of which was a Clover tune. But we placed them kind of up a little bit, in a higher range. And he was struggling with that, because he hadn\u2019t sung up there for while. So, we didn\u2019t get any real vocals yet. We got some rough vocals that show the song, but they weren\u2019t master vocals by a long shot. And his visa came up in seven days, so he was going to come back. And he went back and passed away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Ugh. That\u2019s tragic. I mean, if you said, \u201cHe\u2019s got to be healthy,\u201d you obviously knew he had struggles.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>He had a problem. He loved to have fun, man. Philip would take anything. But he was indomitable for a long time. He was stronger than any of that stuff. But then he wasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah. So, when Clover\u2019s opening up for Thin Lizzy, place for me just a little bit when the Elvis Costello thing happens.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Clover\u2019s opening for Thin Lizzy, and we make our record. We recorded at Rockfield in Wales, which was really cool, man. Way out in a funky studio where Dave Edmunds did all his stuff. And in the next studio over was Black Sabbath with Ozzy. And we played soccer and stuff. We had fun. But Jake and Dave\u2014Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson, went partners on Clover. Dave was already managing Graham Parker and the Rumour. And so, they went partners on us. And Jake was managing Nick Lowe. And they went partners on us. And they said, \u201cLet\u2019s form a management company.\u201d And then they had the idea to phone Stiff Records, and then they found Elvis. So they said, \u201cWe need a band to make the record.\u201d So they used Clover\u2019s rhythm section. Mickey Shine, John Ciambotti, Sean Hopper, and John McFee played wonderfully on that record. And they cut that record in two weeks at Pathway Studios. Nick Lowe produced it. And they just played it and just, the dial\u2019s on, and then just put it out. And it\u2019s brilliant. It\u2019s unbelievably brilliant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elvis was sweet as pie. He asked me if I wanted to play on a couple songs. But we had been touring like crazy, because our record contract was \u00a310,000. We had two weeks off, and I had my girlfriend over. So I said, \u201cHey, if I\u2019m only going to play on a couple songs, I\u2019m going to go tour around Europe.\u201d And Elvis happened out of our same management thing with Jake and Nick Lowe and the Damned and all that. And I watched all those punks. Elvis is not a punk, but you know. And it was just a wonderful, formative time for some. Great to see. I learned all my chops, that\u2019s where they started.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So you go back to Marin County, and you form Huey Lewis and the News, or, like I said, the American Express &#8230;<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Right. And we\u2019re playing Monday Night Live, and then Nick Lowe calls me and says, \u201cI think I just stole one of your lines. I wrote a song, and I think I owe you.\u201d I said, \u201cAh, whatever. I don\u2019t care. You don\u2019t owe me anything.\u201d He said, \u201cNo, I really want to make it right.\u201d I said, \u201cTell you what. Get me a roundtrip ticket to London.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s fine. You know that roundtrip ticket? How about if you use it and come play on my record while you\u2019re over here?\u201d I said, \u201cSure.\u201d So, they flew me to London.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, to backstep one more time, with our little Monday Night Live band that we weren\u2019t calling Huey Lewis and the American Express yet. We were just calling it Monday Night Live band. A local studio owner tried to get in. Our shows began selling out \u2026 it was in these smaller clubs, but just selling out. There\u2019d be lines around the block and stuff. And so, this guy offered us free studio time. Pat Gleeson, the great synthesizer guy, played with Miles [Davis] and all that stuff. And then gave us some free studio time. And for a laugh, we cut a disco version of \u201cExodus\u201d that we called \u201cExodisco.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Huey Lewis And The News - 1979 - Exodisco\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vut4dxua9wo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>I have heard this!<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Okay. And so, I have that as a tape, as a little cassette. So now, I said, \u201cSure,\u201d to\u00a0 Nick Lowe. So I fly to London. I go straight to the studio. We cut \u201cBorn Fighter,\u201d one of his songs, with Nick Lowe, and I played harmonica on it. And then Edmunds cuts [my song] \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7CscPTI8fwA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bad is Bad<\/a>.\u201d Nick had told me he wanted to cut \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/KoBQqd2x0XM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bad is Bad.<\/a>\u201d I said, \u201cSure.\u201d So, Edmunds cuts \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/cN4t83RhTNo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bad is Bad<\/a>\u201d with Rockpile, with Terry Williams on drums live, and harmonica. It was fun, so much fun. We cut those two things. And then the record company comes down to hear the songs and stuff. And oh, they love everything, and they\u2019re great. And then there\u2019s kind of an uncomfortable silence, and\u00a0 I said, \u201cDo you guys want to hear something funny?\u201d They said, \u201cYeah.\u201d So I put \u201cExodisco\u201d on, right? And the record company goes, \u201cWow, that\u2019s pretty cool. I mean, that could be a hit.\u201d I said, \u201cReally?\u201d He says, \u201cYou want to make a deal for that?\u201d I said, \u201cSure!\u201d He says, \u201cOkay, come see me tomorrow.\u201d And he leaves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I say to Jake Riviera, who was there, I said, \u201cWhat do I do, Jake?\u201d He says, \u201cHere\u2019s what you do: You ask for \u00a33,000. And then they\u2019re going to want you to amend it somehow, I guarantee it. Tell him you\u2019ll do it, but they have to pay for the studio time, and you want the \u00a33,000 pounds right now!\u201d And so, that\u2019s what I did. I went in there, and bingo! I got a check for \u00a33,000 and sold \u201cExodisco.\u201d Now I go back to the studio, and first of all, I call the boys up, the Monday Night Live, and I say, \u201cGuys, guess what? We got a singles deal for the Monday Night Live band.\u201d So now I go back to the studio, because they wanted me to sing a little more on it. I said, \u201cNo problem. Just, you got to pay for the studio time and give me the check.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I go down there. So I go back to the studio to get the master. This is analog now, right? This is two-inch tape. And because it was a demo that we\u2019d done, they have no tone reel. They lined the machine with this tape. And then we cut the song on the end of the tape. So now when they go to align the machine, they by accident go too far and erase the song, erase 15 seconds or 30 seconds of the song. And I go, \u201cTragedy.\u201d I say, \u201cOh my God. What have you done?\u201d But they said, \u201cWe\u2019re so, so sorry.\u201d I said, \u201cI just made a deal for this thing. I\u2019m going to have to rerecord it. I\u2019m going to need five days\u2019 studio time. I got to sing it.\u201d They go, \u201cOkay, we\u2019ll do it. We\u2019ll give you five days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I took the master quarter-inch and put it onto two tracks of the multi-track, and then I sang on another track, mixed it down again to a quarter-inch, and figured that was the master. I know I lost a generation, but I knew it wasn\u2019t going to be a hit. And then with the rest of the time, we cut three other songs, one of which was \u201cTattoo (Giving It All up for Love)\u201d from Philip Lynott. And those three songs got us our manager and our record deal, for the most part.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Huey Lewis &amp; the News - Tattoo(Giving It All Up For Love) - 5\/23\/1989 - Slim&#039;s (Official)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XY3ZSwGM3Fk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>That\u2019s amazing. Did you know right from the get-go that you didn\u2019t want to have anything to do with this \u201cExodisco\u201d?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>No, I mean, I knew it was a novelty thing. I mean, should we try to spend to rerecord it and all that? Eh, you know. I mean, I knew it wasn\u2019t the future, you know? I was starting to think, wait a minute. We can really make a band here. And I\u2019d been kind of thinking it for a while. Since Clover broke up, I had to do something. And I played with the different cats around town. I played with [Nick] Gravenites for a long time, and I played with some different cats around town. But I really wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to sing. I never got to sing much.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How did you find that chemistry with Johnny and Chris and the rest of the guys to really form something?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Well, I\u2019d always admired Johnny and Bill. And so, that was a no-brainer. And Sean, I knew from working with. Sean was wonderful and has got big ears. The only two missing pieces were Mario and Chris. And Mario came along because he was in the same band. Johnny, Bill, and Mario were in Clover\u2019s rival band. So I said, \u201cWhat about Mario?\u201d They were a little reluctant, but we got Mario in the band. And then I met Chris at a friend\u2019s house. And Chris was, in retrospect, really the key, was the final piece of the puzzle. But what a huge piece of our puzzle Chris Hayes was. It was funny, because when I first saw him with my friends, he looked like he was 11 years old and diminutive. And so, my friend, he said, \u201cWhat are we doing?\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m getting a band together. I need a guitar player.\u201d I said, \u201cAll I need is a guitar player.\u201d And he goes, \u201cWhat about Chris right here?\u201d I said, \u201cOh, Chris?\u201d \u201cYeah, Chris Hayes.\u201d \u201cHuey Lewis. How you doing? You play guitar?\u201d \u201cYeah.\u201d I said, \u201cNo kidding. You want to come up and jam?\u201d He says, \u201cSure.\u201d So the next day, Hayes comes up, and he\u2019s got his little hollow body guitar up here [motions to show how high he\u2019s wearing his guitar]. He\u2019s a jazzer. He\u2019s got his guitar like this. But he could play, man. Wow, could he play.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so, over the course of the time, we got him to lower the guitar one notch at a time. And then we got him some guitars. And then Chris and I wrote together. And we wrote some good stuff. And Johnny is the same way. I mean, Johnny I had the same sensibility because we grew up in the same place. He plays horn. I play harmonica. I\u2019d always admired him and knew we had the same sensibility. And interestingly, we have a really good blend, him and me. Our voices are interesting. I\u2019m a baritone. He\u2019s a tenor, probably. And he sounds like a higher version of me, in a way. The more we worked together, the more we began to sound like each other. It sounds kind of creepy. I mean, when you put up vocal tracks by themselves and you go, \u201cWow.\u201d We begin to pronounce words the same way, where maybe we didn\u2019t at one time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So \u201cJohnny Colla and the News\u201d is going to be the next iteration, right?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>If I can\u2019t sing, it sure would be nice to have somebody do the songbook. I mean, since we lost Mario, and now we lost Chris. Chris retired about, oh shoot, almost 10 years ago. So we worked with a couple guitar players. Our bass player is a guy called John Pierce, who we got from LA who\u2019s a session guy. But we knew him because he made some records in Northern California, we met him. And I mean, he\u2019s just brilliant, and fun. And the thing about being in a band is it\u2019s the other 22 hours that are so difficult. Our music\u2019s not that hard. You can figure it out. But you\u2019ve got to be there and wanting to be better all the time at the same song, playing the same song every night, trying to get better at it. It\u2019s not for everybody. It really isn\u2019t. Touring and all that. But John is brilliant. And we got better then. And then we have two guitar players, Stef Burns and James Harrah. And both are brilliant. We have to use two because we\u2019re their second gig kind of thing.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But they\u2019re both brilliant. But the fun part is when you\u2019re singing the songs or you\u2019re listening, even, how the songs, the material, takes on a little different hue with a different instruments, with a different musician. How it rolls that way. And it sounds fresh again. It\u2019s kind of all you need.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Nice. And so, have you been able to do some rehearsal here and there with the guys?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>I tried. My hearing got pretty good. I tried. We called a rehearsal, and then of course, my hearing crashed three days before rehearsal. And I tried but I couldn\u2019t hear anything.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I tried that one more time, and the same thing happened. But I\u2019m on a pretty good run right now. And I\u2019m hoping. I don\u2019t know. I have to be realistic. I mean, it\u2019s a longshot that I\u2019ll be able to fire up with the band and play a big venue. And the PA system, level\u2019s the devil with what I got. If it\u2019s loud, it goes cacophony for me. So, we\u2019ll see. I mean, but it\u2019s important to remember that there are people worse off than me. I mean, really the worst part about it is initially, the first couple years, I felt so bad for letting the boys down, right? I mean, I\u2019m not that great a singer, but I\u2019ve always been <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reliable<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I\u2019ve got a voice like a Mack truck. So now, I\u2019m suddenly not reliable. So I felt terrible about not just the guys in the band, but the crew. These guys, we\u2019ve been together for almost 40 years, all of us. So it\u2019s just, that thing is terrible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fans, I feel bad about. And now it\u2019s three years down the road, and all the crew\u2019s okay. Everybody\u2019s sort of okay. But I can\u2019t even enjoy music. I\u2019m a jazz buff. And I play jazz and cook. And man, that\u2019s as happy as I ever get. And now I can\u2019t play. Music\u2019s not part of my life. It\u2019s terrible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[bctt tweet=&#8221;Level\u2019s the devil with what I got. If it\u2019s loud, it goes cacophony for me. \u2014 @HueyLewisNews on the current status of his M\u00e9ni\u00e8re\u2019s disease&#8221; via=&#8221;no&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><b>That is devastating. But I\u2019m sure, with the human condition, that you do gravitate towards something else, right? To fill that void.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Well, we have a Broadway show, a musical, that we\u2019re trying to get to Broadway, which is really good, I think. What you do is you stay busy and you stay creative. And you need stuff to look forward to. That\u2019s what I do. So, I have several irons in the fire at the moment. It\u2019s called <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Heart of Rock and Roll<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It\u2019s not about Huey Lewis and the News. The original story\u2019s set to the music of Huey Lewis and the News, \u00e0 la the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mamma Mia!<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> model, not the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jersey Boys<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> model. It\u2019s not about us, but it uses our music. And we put it up in San Diego for six weeks. Got great reviews and sold out, standing ovations every night. We were about to get a theater on Broadway and fortunately did not, or the COVID thing would\u2019ve wiped us out. And so, we\u2019re waiting. And that will be a really fun and gratifying thing, when and if that happens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And again, the exciting thing about that is all the songs are Huey Lewis and the News songs, which means they\u2019re not all written by Huey Lewis and the News. Maybe two-thirds of them are written by us. And they\u2019re all handled completely differently. The musical director\u2019s a guy called Brian Usifer, and he\u2019s brilliant. And he did, well, lots of shows. He did <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kinky Boots<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, I think. He did <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Frozen<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But he\u2019s brilliant. And he handles the songs and gives them all completely different settings than ours. He zigs when we zag, and just did that so wonderfully. First of all, it\u2019s refreshing to hear all these different changes, these songs handled in a different way. And next of all, when you hear the body of work done that way, not by all these different singers and stuff, you realize there\u2019s a thread that runs through there. And it\u2019s really weird. I mean, admittedly, it\u2019s my lyrics, sort of. But it\u2019s more than that. And the songs that are outside songs that we cut are in the fold, and it\u2019s interesting. So there\u2019s a personality there, a band personality that we have that we don\u2019t even know about, you know?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah. I imagine seeing your work done that way presents something you wouldn\u2019t have been able to see by just continuing what you were doing, playing those songs, if you hadn\u2019t done this.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Exactly. And some of them are completely rearranged. Some of them are sung by women. I\u2019ve been working pretty hard because we had changed lyrics minimally, you know what I\u2019m saying? So, they had to make me a producer, because I had to look after the music. I didn\u2019t want it to be a joke. Having said that, because I\u2019m a producer, they got to listen to me on every front. And so, it\u2019s really been a wonderful creative experience. I mean, we\u2019ve been working on it for years and years. But I think it\u2019s really good, and it\u2019s pretty exciting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Give me a quick sample lyric change.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Lyric change. Okay, let\u2019s see. [Singing] Well, \u201cHere comes this guy, whoa, yeah. A feeling I can\u2019t deny.\u201d A feeling I can\u2019t deny, maybe? I don\u2019t know. She sings it all from a woman\u2019s point of view. I sang it, \u201chit me like a hammer.\u201d I mean, they\u2019re different. And little stuff. \u201cIf This Is It\u201d at the very end, I had to change a couple things. We wrote a new song, Johnny and I and Brian Usifer, the music director called \u201cI Want to Be Someone\u201d that\u2019s the centerpiece of the whole piece. And that\u2019s really centered around the character, so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And we got some television. I got a TV show we\u2019re developing. This is not very far along yet, but it\u2019s very exciting, because the guy, the producer involved is a big deal. And I won\u2019t even tout it. But the idea is that it\u2019s a romantic comedy where episodes are based on one of our songs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2021\/03\/huey-lewis-anthology-leila-gerstein-kapital-entertainment-script-to-series-commitment-fox-1234711686\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Editor\u2019s Note: Deadline officially reported more details on the show after this interview had been recorded.<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>I remember when we spoke before, you were talking about how you were in such a perfect position to achieve the success that you did when you did because you were at an age where you\u2019d seen it before with other people, and you knew what to expect. And I think you even took the guys in the News aside and said, \u201cThis only happens once, the rise to fame. Let\u2019s do it right.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Yeah, that\u2019s exactly right. I mean, because I\u2019d been around Philip, and I\u2019d watched Philip. Philip taught me everything about how to deal with fame, fans, band, all that stuff. All you had to do was just watch Philip. I mean, he was brilliant. And I knew how fleeting it could be, because I\u2019d watched Philip\u2019s career. I watched Nick Lowe\u2019s, I mean, the most English of artists, the most English of people, and he\u2019s a brilliant artist, for him not to be appreciated in his own country, that is insane. So, I mean, I know how this thing, the fame thing is. You need to enjoy it. Although if you make it your life, then you\u2019re dead. Then you don\u2019t have a life. A lot of these guys, I mean, I feel sorry for, the Michael Jacksons and the Princes of the world. I\u2019m better off. I\u2019m still alive! I got a life! Life is a good thing to have when your career doesn\u2019t go so well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That ride was a particularly rocket ship ride because of the MTV thing. And what\u2019s interesting is, radio was king. You talk about big hits. There never was a bigger hit than a 1983 No. 1 hit. That\u2019s about as big as it got, for a lot of reasons. First of all, brief history, backing up: Top 40 radio was created with the advent of push-button radio. Because the programmer opined that as long as people didn\u2019t hear something they <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">didn\u2019t<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> want to hear, they wouldn\u2019t push the button. But if they heard something they didn\u2019t like, they could push a button and change the channel. They wouldn\u2019t have to search for it. So, the idea was to narrow your playlist, top 40. And then FM radio started as an alternative to that. It was stereo. But nobody had stereo in their cars. And they played anything they wanted. It was KMPX, KMCN, Big Daddy, Tom Donahue, all that stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But even by the mid-\u201970s, early to mid-\u201970s, FM radio, which is now the major radio in all the cars and everything else\u2014AM\u2019s just talk radio\u2014is programming. And by \u201978, \u201979, \u201980, \u201981, \u201982, the dominant format is CHR, contemporary hit radio, which is top 40. Except that it\u2019s really about top 28. And if you\u2019re No. 1, 2, 3, or 4, you\u2019re getting 10 plays a day. So it doesn\u2019t get any more pervasive than that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then MTV comes along. And MTV plays their videos. Their playlist exactly mirrors radio\u2019s playlist. The No. 1 there is No. 1 there, [and it\u2019s like that] for many years. And so, those hits, when you had a hit like that, everybody heard it and everybody saw it. I mean, it was a big, big deal. And we felt MTV. If you remember, cable was new, even before. MTV came because of cable. And we would <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">feel<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it. I\u2019m in San Francisco, and there\u2019s no MTV. And we got our first record out, we\u2019d do a video or something. Suddenly, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, I get a hundred fan letters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Just because they had cable?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>It was amazing. And you could <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">feel<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the different parts of the country opening up to it with MTV and stuff. So it really was a rocket ship ride, in that sense. There were times there where I had a driver. We\u2019d do the Elvis route or have to get out of the airport. You didn\u2019t want to go to a McDonald\u2019s, and you didn\u2019t want to go to any malls. And now I go to a mall, I don\u2019t even get recognized.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>But it seems like you knew that from the get-go, that being at point A would eventually lead to point B, and you were able to handle it. Or did it work on your nerves at all?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Exactly right. I mean, that\u2019s it. And I have other interests. I like the outdoors a lot. So, I had stuff that I\u2019d go to. I have a life. And that helps. Sometimes it helps to have a life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>You talk a lot about how having a No. 1 hit in \u201983 was just huge, pervasive, everywhere. And what I find interesting about the pop landscape around that time is that there were just so many different types of music that were on the top 40. Pop was just this huge stew of tons of different stuff.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>And by the way, that\u2019s part of that CHR thing that I miss very much. It was an editing process. If you wanted to hear a Huey Lewis and the News tune on CHR radio, you\u2019re going to hear a Garth Brooks song, a Commodores tune, a Madonna tune, a Whitney tune. And it\u2019s all over the map. REO Speedwagon, Alabama. It\u2019s all over the map. Michael Jackson. This is a typical radio and records playlist. And nowadays, of course, it\u2019s so fragmented, you just can\u2019t have a hit like that. Nobody can get everybody\u2019s attention. But I think it was good because it would educate. It was a good editing process, really. I\u2019ve never apologized for pop music. As I\u2019ve said before, this is folk music. It\u2019s popular music. So that\u2019s what we\u2019re about. We\u2019re not virtuosos here. We leave that to the jazzers and the classical people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yeah. Well, when you did have <\/b><b><i>Sports<\/i><\/b><b> and it did have so many hits, did you know when you were writing that record \u2026 It feels like the record company knows when something is going to be a hit [especially with the knowledge of how much money they\u2019re willing to sink into it], but do the artists know it\u2019s going to be a hit also? Did you know you were working with something special, a special group of songs that was going to do something?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>I wish I could say I did, but I didn\u2019t. I mean, I knew when \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll\u201d hit \u2026 Was that our second single? I think \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll\u201d was the second single. \u201cHeart and Soul\u201d was the first single off our <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sports<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> album. And that was the song we needed to be a hit. And it\u2019s an outside song. It was written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, who don\u2019t miss. They\u2019ve written a bunch of hits. And when I heard the demo, I said, \u201cThat sounds like a hit.\u201d So we just copied the demo. I sang it, so it sounded differently that way, but basically, instrumentally, we just copied the demo. And it was a hit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then the next song we released was \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll,\u201d and that thing went as a hit. And I\u2019m like, if \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll\u201d is a hit, we\u2019ve got a lot of hits. Because \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll\u201d is an album track. It\u2019s not a hit record kind of thing. You\u2019re not going to get married to \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll.\u201d It\u2019s just not a hit. But it was a hit. It went top 10. Then came \u201cWant a New Drug,\u201d and then \u201cIf This is It,\u201d and like that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Huey Lewis &amp; The News - The Heart Of Rock &amp; Roll\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M7JVlpm0eRs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>How did you keep the band together all that time? That was such a long stretch with all the same guys. And you mentioned Chris retired just a few years ago, and Mario. But everyone was in it for a long, long time.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Well, we pay well.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s a fortunate thing that our relationship works. Bands are funny. And you correctly articulated it. It\u2019s not failure, it\u2019s not the lack of success that breaks bands up. It\u2019s success that breaks them up. Because as long as you\u2019re striving and you\u2019re trying to make it, \u201cwe\u2019re all in this together.\u201d Now when we start to make it, oh, let\u2019s see. But fortunately, in our band, nobody really aspires to a different position. Billy doesn\u2019t care if I do all the interviews, or nobody cares if I do the interviews, that kind of thing. It would just kind of work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And we handled it professionally as well. People say, \u201cWell, are you still friends?\u201d Well, that\u2019s a silly question. We\u2019re closer than you are with brothers, really. You spend that much time together on a bus, forget about it. You don\u2019t spend that much time with your brother. So the fact that we don\u2019t talk every day on the phone is not surprising. We spent <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a lot <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of time together. But I think that it just worked organically. And I probably get a little credit as a band leader. That\u2019s the hard part of this gig, right? Did we talk about this already? Yeah, the other 22 hours. It\u2019s not brain surgery, this pop music. But you want somebody who cares about the gig, who\u2019s going to get better and better and better at that little simple gig.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music\u2019s kind of like food. There\u2019s foie gras, and then there\u2019s hamburgers. And if your song is a hamburger, you want a guy who\u2019s going to cook that hamburger like it\u2019s foie gras. He\u2019s going to treat it like it\u2019s foie gras. You don\u2019t want some guy just dismissing it. And it\u2019s all in the makeup of the characters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[bctt tweet=&#8221;Music\u2019s kind of like food. There\u2019s foie gras, and then there\u2019s hamburgers. And if your song is a hamburger, you want a guy who\u2019s going to cook that hamburger like it\u2019s foie gras. \u2014 @hueylewisnews on the secret ingredients of his hits&#8221; via=&#8221;no&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><b>There\u2019s also something about serving consistently good hamburgers too, you know?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Yeah, no. It\u2019s about quality. It\u2019s about being good, changing it up, making it fresh enough. You have to work at it, there\u2019s no question about it. Looking after yourself? Definitely. And that\u2019s kind of the sad part about my hearing loss. This is going to sound silly, but it\u2019s true. We were still improving. We\u2019re still becoming a better band.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>No, I mean, I don\u2019t disagree. I mean, listening to any of those songs on <\/b><b><i>Weather<\/i><\/b><b>, if you pulled out any of those songs and played it next to somebody who\u2019d never heard Huey Lewis and the News, and played it next to something from <\/b><b><i>Sports<\/i><\/b><b>, he would be hard-pressed to figure out which was more recent.<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>I\u2019m glad you said that. I\u2019m very proud of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Weather<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I think it\u2019s really good. It should be. We wrote the songs. And then we played it on the road. And then we rearranged it. And then we recorded it. Or then maybe even played it again. I mean, some of them, like \u201cHer Love is Killing Me,\u201d we\u2019ve been working on \u2026 It\u2019s the simplest of songs. And Chris had the riff. I wrote the rest of it, and we put it together, and we jammed on it. We couldn\u2019t get it. It just wasn\u2019t very good. We tried to play it live. We had this other idea, we were going to start it acoustically and then have the horn section come in and bust into it, and did that. We finally gave up on the song. We just gave up on it. And then eight years later, we\u2019re in a rehearsal, and I guess Chris or somebody started playing the lick, and we fell into it and played it, and ah, it sounded great. And I think it\u2019s because we had the exact right tempo, in a very simple song. And we became intimate with the song. We know it really well, so it evolved. So, we took our time, is the point, with all this stuff. And I feel like we\u2019re cheating people with only seven tunes. But Kanye only had seven [on his 2018 album <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ye<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>I\u2019m guessing that when you speak about the departed friends that you\u2019re singing about in \u201cOne of the Boys,\u201d does that relate back to what we were talking about at the beginning with the people that were in the jam sessions with your dad, or is it more of your contemporaries like Philip and Michael Jackson who are no longer with us, or is it all of the above?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Huey Lewis: <\/b>Well, it\u2019s all of the above. I wrote it originally, I took a meeting with a guy called Dave Cobb. He\u2019s a great record producer in Nashville. Produces Sturgill Simpson, and I think Chris Stapleton. And so, we had lunch. And he said, \u201cI think I\u2019m going to be producing Willie Nelson.\u201d He said, \u201cI wonder if you could write a song for Willie Nelson.\u201d I went, \u201cReally? You really think I could write a song for Willie? Wow. Thank you.\u201d I said, \u201cThank you. I\u2019ll try. I mean, I\u2019ll give it a try.\u201d I thought, \u201cI can\u2019t write a song for Willie. What am I going to write for Willie Nelson?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so, a couple weeks later, oddly enough, I just woke up with this thing in my head, that little melody and the words and the idea. And so, I called him up and I said, \u201cHey, I got an idea for you.\u201d And he says, \u201cWell, just demo it up and send it to me.\u201d I said, \u201cWell, it\u2019s country. I mean, we don\u2019t &#8230;\u201d He says, \u201cNo, no, don\u2019t worry about it.\u201d I said, \u201cOkay.\u201d So I went to Johnny, and we recorded it on his computer on the road, each instrument one at a time. And then I sang it in his hotel room, and there it is. It was amazing. And then we sent it off to Willie, to Dave Cobb, and \u2026 he didn\u2019t get the gig!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then Bill Gibson said, \u201cI think we should do it.\u201d I said, \u201cReally? But Billy, it\u2019s country.\u201d He says, \u201cYeah, but you sing it okay, and it sounds good. I think it\u2019s good.\u201d So I said, \u201cWell, whatever.\u201d So I listened to it again, and I realized it\u2019s my life story. And it was sent to me by Dave Cobb. Dave Cobb not only sent me off to write a Willie tune, he said, \u201cI see it this way.\u201d He said, \u201cI see it as Willie\u2019s one of the last guys around, and all of these guys are gone. And they\u2019re just in the sky maybe, or something.\u201d Totally inspired the song. So, I wrote it all down, and then I went, \u201cWhoa! This hits home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How often has that been your writing process, where something comes to you, and you\u2019re just in awe of it?<br \/>\nHuey Lewis: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, when you write, sometimes you write, and you write and write, and then a line comes to you, and it\u2019s good. It\u2019s like gold. It\u2019s like they\u2019re just giving it. It\u2019s like the muse just says, \u201cHere you go.\u201d And there are some great lines. \u201cWhat\u2019s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?\u201d \u201cHey Mickey, what a pity, you don\u2019t understand. You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand.\u201d There\u2019s just some great stuff like that in pop music that\u2019s great. <a href=\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/?s=bonnie+hayes?campaign_id=7010Z000001ZkQgQAK&amp;pid=&amp;utm_source=takenote&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bol-gen-takenote-link-from-article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">And Bonnie [Hayes] knows about all that. That\u2019s what Bonnie\u2019s about<\/a>, I mean. And it\u2019s the perfect marriage of that, music and that. The words are telling you, and the music\u2019s got to be telling you the same thing. They both got to be telling you the same. They\u2019re all telling you the same story. And that\u2019s how you get it. You get it when everybody\u2019s telling you the same story.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Huey Lewis: Some of his lies are true, including the ones about stowing away on a plane to Europe, playing soccer with Black Sabbath and Ozzy, and being dressed by Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy. He also touches upon his meteoric rise to fame in the 1980s and his struggles with M\u00e9ni\u00e8re\u2019s 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